Westmorland Youth Orchestra concerts are always full of interest, well chosen and challenging. The last concert of the season in Kendal Parish Church, conducted by Noel Bertram and competently led by Emily Gornall, was no exception and the orchestra rose magnificently to the occasion.

The concert opened with Peter Warlock's Capriole Suite and from the start the clean, fresh, disciplined playing, particularly of the strings, indicated that we were in for an exciting evening. The choice of programme gave every section of the orchestra in turn an opportunity to show its paces. Nowhere was this more evident than in Vivaldi's Concerto in B Minor for 4 Violins. The long, interweaving passages in the first movement are not easy to keep evenly flowing but the four senior violinists playing the solo parts succeeded. They blended well together and were sympathetically supported by the accompanying string orchestra, also standing to play.

This was followed by the remorseless plodding of the camel train of Borodin's On the Steppes of Central Asia. The eastern atmosphere was imaginatively captured and the long, steady diminuendo of the camels disappearing into the distance, an effect not easy to achieve with conviction, was well controlled.

After the interval the wind and brass had their turn. First with Grieg's Funeral March, which, built round a tranquil, soothing middle section with a beautifully played oboe solo, develops to a majestic climax reverberating around the church.

Then, with a challenge of a very different kind they played the Serenade, Op.22, by Derek Bourgeois, mischievously written for his daughter's wedding in the uneven beat of 11/8 time - not easy to walk down the aisle to or to play! But it presented no problems for wind or brass.

For Luciano Berio's Four Variations on a March by Boccherini the full orchestra was back. The camel train technique appeared again, this time in the guise of a cheerful procession passing through the village and on to the next.

The concert was sub-titled Raising the Roof and was given in aid of the Parish Church Roof Appeal. Very apt for the final work - Wagner's Overture to Rienzi. Noel Bertram pushed the players to their limit, they responded magnificently and the roof was definitely raised.

Before the concert began the audience was greeted by welcoming music, delightfully played by the impressive Sedgwick Flute Ensemble, directed by Suzanne de Lozey - a treat in itself.

During the interval Kendal Probus Club presented its annual award to a member of the orchestra who, throughout the year, has made a significant general and musical contribution to the orchestra. This year it went to the principal flautist, Jo Ashcroft.